With today’s update to Apple’s Mac OS X software (aka Snow Leopard), it just may be the last one we ever see. With OS X 10.7 (aka Lion) set to ship in the next few months, Snow Leopard may end up finishing its life at version 10.6.8, which is the update number released today.

This update addresses the following:

• Enhance the Mac App Store to get your Mac ready to upgrade to Mac OS X Lion

• Resolve an issue that may cause Preview to unexpectedly quit

• Improve support for IPv6

• Improve VPN reliability

• Identify and remove known variants of Mac Defender

The combo updater for 10.6.8 is available from Apple and is 1.01 GB. You can also get the delta updater by going to Software Update on your individual Mac.

For more information about the update, head on over to Apple’s website.

This morning at a keynote event held to kick off its Worldwide Developer Conference and hosted by Apple CEO Steve Jobs the company announced details of several of its upcoming products. These included the much rumored iCloud service as well as the upcoming updates to iOS, called iOS 5, and Mac OS X, code named Lion.

Here’s the scoop and highlights on the announcements:

iCloud

According to Steve Jobs: “Keeping these devices in sync is driving us crazy. We’ve got a great solution to this problem… We’re going to demote the PC and the Mac to just be a device. We’re going to move the digital hub, the center of your digital life, into the cloud.”

• Store all content in the cloud and push it to all devices – “iTunes in the Cloud”

• Mobile Me Out, iCloud In – 100% Free

• iTunes Match – Will look for your songs and match them in iTunes – $25.00/Year

• Backup – Your device will backup important info once daily. To restore or with new device, just sign in and all info will be there

• Photo Stream – Photos (first 5000) uploaded to cloud and available on all devices and Apple TV

• Documents – iWork app sync files with the cloud so available on all your devices. Will still sync Mail, Contacts and Calendar as well

• 5 GB Free Storage

• Developer Beta Available Today. iTunes in the Cloud will run on iOS 4.3 today

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Even though we try not to use very many products from Microsoft around here (we’re Mac users mostly, after all) that doesn’t mean we don’t have to jump into Microsoft’s Office Suite once in awhile. Now on its 2011 version, Office for Mac has become a pretty darn good program.

Soon, Microsoft will attempt to make it even better with the release of the inevitable Service Pack 1, which will reportedly be coming out next week. The update will reportedly include performance enhancements, as well as security and stability fixes, but it will also include major changes for Outlook for Mac.

After applying the service pack, users will be able to sync their Outlook calendars, tasks, notes, and contacts with Apple’s Sync Services, and it includes support for CalDAV calendar, which Apple is implementing in May. The update will also add a new redirect and resend buttons. iPhone and iPod touch devices will also stay in sync as well.

So, if you’re an Office for Mac 2011 user and think the suite could use some fixes, mark your calendars and get ready for some help next week.

Have you ever wanted to video chat with your iPhone using friends but don’t have an iPhone yourself? Well, if you’ve wanted to use Apple’s FaceTime from the iPhone and only had a Mac, you were out of luck. That is, until this week.

The video chat service from Apple left Beta yesterday and is now a full fledged and polished App available at Apple’s App Store. This update was timed, it would seem, to come out at the same time Apple was refreshing its MacBook Pro lineup.

Now that it’s out of Beta, the App sports a new price, which is only 99¢. In case you’re not familiar with FaceTime, its an Apple provided service that allows Mac, iPhone, iPod touch and soon, iPad users to make video calls for free over land-based Internet connections.

The service itself is free and the App is bundled with any of Apple’s recent iOS devices such as the iPhone. However, as we said above, it cost just under a buck if you want the App for your Mac. However, the App is now pre-installed on all new MacBook Pro models so that’s a nice thing.

It’s an historic day Apple fans as we look back 27 years ago at the first time Apple unveiled the Macintosh computer to the world. Steve Jobs introduced the revolutionary Mac on January 24, 1984 to a crowd of around 3000 people and, needless to say, they were quite enthusiastic about it.

The original Apple Macintosh was the first personal computer to run the Mac operating system, then known as System 1.0. It featured impressive (for the time) specs including a 9-inch greyscale monitor, an 8 MHz processor with 128 K of RAM and no internal hard drive, just a floppy. It did, however, feature a really cool rectangular mouse, which you can see in the photo above.

The price? $2495. Which seemed high then and seems really high now. Good thing prices have come down, at least a little. To celebrate, check out the video of Jobs revealing the new Mac after the jump.

As someone who uses a Macintosh every day (I’m writing this on one right now) I thank you Steve Jobs and the entire Mac team for inventing this great machine. Here’s to 27 more years.

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Today, as was expected, Apple unveiled their new initiative aimed at Mac OSX software developers and those wishing to purchase applications for their Macs in a way similar to iTunes and iOS apps. Dubbed the Mac App Store, it is part of the latest software release of Apple’s Mac OS X operating system which, when applied, brings Mac computers to version 10.6.6.

Here’s what Apple has to say about the update:

The Mac OS X 10.6.6 Update is recommended for all users running Mac OS X Snow Leopard and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac. It also includes the Mac App Store, the best way to discover and buy new apps for your Mac. The Mac App Store, a new application you’ll find in the Dock, includes the following features:

• Discover Mac apps: Browse featured apps, top charts, and categories, or search for something specific. Read detailed app descriptions and user reviews, and flip through screen shots.
• Buy and install: Easily purchase apps with your iTunes account. Apps install in one step and are quickly available from the Dock.
• App updates: The Mac App Store keeps track of all your purchased apps and notifies you when free updates are available.

Among the apps being sold in the Mac App Store as of this morning are some made by Apple, including parts of the iLife and iWork suites and Aperture 3. These apps are available individually with prices ranging from $15 for iLife apps to $20 for iWork apps and $79 for Aperture.

The update is now available via Software Update so if you’re interested in this, fire up your Mac and get to updating. If you do, let us know your experiences in the comments.

So first there was Bejeweled, and that was awesome. Then there was Bejeweled 2, and that was awesome too. So you might be asking yourself, “Do we really need a Bejeweled 3? Weren’t two of these jeweled-swapping games enough?” My answer to you, doubters and naysayers, is that yes, we did need Bejeweled 3. Because it is indeed awesome, and brings some really new, innovative game modes, cool graphics, and more of the jewel-swapping, color matching madness that we all know and love.

At its core, Bejeweled 3 does provide more of the same, but there’s nothing really wrong with that. It brings the well-known Classic mode, the untimed game that only ends when there are no more moves on the board. It also has Lightening Mode, which is basically the same as the previous Action Mode, or the timed version. Zen Mode is the same as Endless, with no time limit or end to the game if moves run out. These modes feature new music and graphics, and they’re a nice update to their previous counterparts in Bejeweled 2.

What I really want to talk about is Quest Mode, which is quite different from Puzzle Mode in Bejeweled 2. In Quest Mode, there five levels, with eight puzzles to solve in each level. As you progress through the levels, the nature of the quests remain pretty similar while the difficulty increases. The quests vary from clearing gems in a certain amount of time to matching 10 time bomb gems before they run out of time and explode.

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Today Apple announced that the much anticipated Mac App Store will open for business on Thursday, January 6 2011. The new service was announced back in October and offers developers a 70-30 split in revenues for applications sold. The new service looks to mimic the ease-of-use and utility of the iTunes-based App Store on the desktop. Let’s hope they succeed.

“The App Store revolutionized mobile apps,” said Apple’s CEO, Steve Jobs. “We hope to do the same for PC apps with the Mac App Store by making finding and buying PC apps easy and fun.” Don’t worry, I’m sure by “PC” he means Mac OSX.

The store will be available in ninety countries at launch and will contain both free and paid applications. Click through for the full press release from Apple and start saving your pennies to buy all those great apps starting in January.

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We don’t always take rumors very seriously around here. When you’ve been in the news game as long as many of us have you tend to take most rumors with a Gibraltar-sized chuck of salt. So, it is with that caveat that we bring you news of the new Mac App store and its rumored launch date.

According to one of those infamous and anonymous “inside” sources, Apple plans to launch the Mac App Store one week from today, on December 13th. Why then? Well, as the source indicates, Apple CEO Steve Jobs actually wanted to launch the new store today but those pesky “delays” pushed the launch back to next week. I’m sure Jobs took that well.

In case you’re not familiar with the forthcoming App Store for the Mac, it will be OS X’s equivalent to the iTunes App Store for iOS devices. It won’t be the only place to get Apps for the Mac it will just make it more convenient and better for developers. . . hopefully.

As of a few minutes ago, Apple released its Mac OS X 10.6.5 update to its flagship Mac operating system. Some of the bug fixes, improvements, etc. in this release include:

• improve reliability with Microsoft Exchange servers
• address performance of some image-processing operations in iPhoto and Aperture
• address stability and performance of graphics applications and games
• resolve a delay between print jobs
• address a printing issue for some HP printers connected to an AirPort Extreme
• resolve an issue when dragging contacts from Address Book to iCal
• address an issue where dragging an item from a stack causes the Dock to not automatically hide
• resolve an issue with Wikipedia information not displaying correctly in Dictionary
• improve performance of MainStage on certain Mac systems
• resolve spacing issues with OpenType fonts
• improve reliability with some Bluetooth braille displays
• resolve a VoiceOver issue when browsing some web sites with Safari 5

Some good improvements there to be sure. Also, be on the lookout for an update to the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch pretty soon in the form of iOS 4.2, coming soon . . .

If you update today be sure and let us know if you have any issues. We’re firing up Software Update as we speak. Or, you can always wait for the combo update if you feel like it. Should probably be along shortly.

Happy news VOIP and Mac fans as today Skype announced a new beta version of its chat software, Skpe 5.0 beta, is now available. According to Skype this software has several new features including:

• New call control bar — Hang up, mute and more from a mini Skype toolbar that sits on top of any web pages, documents or photos you’ve got open

• Search chat content to easily navigate past conversations

• Offline IM so that you can send and receive instant messages even if the recipient is offline

• Personalise contacts via user profiles

• Quickly rejoin calls if your Internet connection fails momentarily

• Floating Contacts Monitor to see your online contacts and contact groups

As users of Skype pretty much every week we think this is pretty cool. Check out a little video showing how cool after the jump.

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Love it or hate it Microsoft’s Office suite of applications which include Word, PowerPoint and Excel are pretty much the go-to for most offices these days. Fortunately for the Mac users out there the Redmond Giant, and specifically its Mac Business Unit, have been putting out versions of the suite for the Mac as well that mostly have feature parity with the Windows versions.

With the Windows version of Office already at the 2011 milestone, we can now announce that Office 2011 for the Mac is available and shipping. Like its Windows counterpart, the Intel only Office for Mac has all the usual applications including Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

But wait, there’s more. Not since the days of OS 9, the suite also includes Microsoft Outlook, which replaces the Entourage email client. Finally, right?

Office for Mac 2011 pricing breaks down as follows:

Microsoft Office for Home and Student 2011 (single license): $109.99 – $149.99

Microsoft Office for Mac Home and Business (single license): $174.99 – $279.99

With the inclusion of Outlook, the Office suite is now a good deal for Mac using companies or individuals in a Windows dominated environment. Kudos to Microsoft for finally doing the right thing here.